fanservice

Oh dear. I haven’t had such pacing and mood whiplash in a while. At first I thought the relatively slow burn was nice, but I forgot we’ve got a crazy fire witch on our hands.

Episodes 7 and 8 have highly accelerated the storytelling flow and plot structure. One second we’re wondering what the next week will hold for us when suddenly we’re worried what the fuck is going on every three minutes. I’m not entirely sure what the purpose of the school riots was. It was merely to be a side quest triggered because the old council president wanted to get back at Takamiya.. only it wasn’t exactly that. Maybe it was in the original manga.

At this point, I’m going to hold off on trying to chew the story and simply enjoy the fanservice. I still laughed when I realized Kasumi’s only joy in life, which is waking up her beloved onii-chan, is shattered with a scene of Kagari in a pink nurse outfit and ponytail “checking” Honoka’s body. Why is this shit still funny to me after all these years?

Kugimiya Rie’s performance as Chronoire is also delectable. The “old tongue” speaking style sounds silly when it’s coming from Kugyuu. Makes me realize that if it were to be localized, we’d be hearing her say stuff like “Jolly good show, old chap!” in a fancy accent. Please, make it so! I’ve also completely forgotten Asumi Kana was in this show. Sorry, Kana! Too bad you’re a side character.

Urgh. After I’ve managed to get in the habit of categorizing anime, I’ve realized my tags are a mess. Several Japanese names in both regular and reverse orders. Needs consistency. Which I supposed is an extension of the kind qualities I look for in an anime.

From the second you realize that Lucy slept next to someone, you’re then given two facts: it’s a girl, and it’s a Hasebe. Then she pulls the “I’m actually a woman!” trope, which is quickly proven wrong when Hasebe Yutaka walks in. Then you realize Kobayashi Yuu is voicing Hasebe Kaoru, the girl in question. Mere seconds into the episode I had to pause and catch all of that.

Then proceed to get an even more ridiculous revelation from Chihaya mid-way through the episode.

But really. Let’s go back to Kobayashi Yuu. She’s kinda weird. I remember watching the extras for Maria+Holic. She’s a very hyper person. Or at least, can change her temperament on a dime.

Then I also get to think about who else is in this show. Toyosaki and Takahiro are pro. I already know how much I like their work, but I’ve been missing out on Nakahara Mai roles that I enjoy. Wish there was more Miyoshi no deban. The café scene wasn’t long enough. Even Touko was a little cute during that part. Actually, I really think Touko is cute. Her character design is so simple, and rather plain if you remove that perma-angry vein. I’m just kinda waiting until there’s some kind of joke about that anger vein; they are really just flower stickers she puts on in the morning.

Please don’t let Kobayashi draw an end card.

Interesting revelation after I checked Nakahara’s wikipedia entry: I saw every 2003 anime she was in.

Why do I watch these shows?! Oh, right, the shameless fanservice employed. And in particular, Mamiko Noto voicing the character in the above screencap. Her voice just has such a strong wispy sound that even when her characters call for a stronger emotion or entirely different character archetype, you can definitely tell it’s Noto. Almost in the same way Satomi Arai can’t avoid being instantly recognized unless directed to avoid previous voice patterns. On a related note, it is with sadness that I noticed Peke is no longer voiced by Arai, but now voiced by Aki Toyosaki. But I can’t complain, since the new season gave us a scene with Aki using her voice as a deadly weapon: 18 minutes and 30 seconds into episode 4. Oh god I didn’t expect Aki to have a special sexy voice.

Ritsu shares the same voice actress (Satou Satomi) as Aria from Seitokai Yakuindomo?! I heard a hint of it, but my first guess was someone completely different. Mind blown. It’s such a soothing voice too! I almost thought it was the person who did Alicia, from ARIA the Animation. Although Hisaka Yoko definitely still sounds like Mio from K-ON. Yes, Mio’s VA is also in Yakuindomo. But I like the character she’s voicing this time.

Since I’m already talking about it, might as well spit out my opinions on the show already. Seitokai Yakuindomo looks to be one comfy and slow ride. While the pacing of segments is accelerated compared to most adaptations based on 4koma, it’s letting them fly by fast enough that if it wasn’t interesting the first time, they’ve already moved on. And I guess for now the jokes are stuff that’d make me grin and chuckle.

On a side note, I thought it strange when the flying camera sequence stopped right behind a girls arse to show her pulling up a pair of what I assume to be track pants. I was about to complain about such an odd take on fanservice (I still enjoyed it, anyway) when I realized that Highschool of the Dead is airing in the same season.

One thing to keep in mind is that the director (Kanazawa Hiromitsu) worked on Princess Lover. If it’s any indication, we might end up with an episode or two with some epic lulz, as some were had during PL.